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Windows 9 Preview leaks out showing Virtual Desktops

WinFutures A German site has videos of the Windows 9 new features, including virtual desktops and notifications. The virtual desktops remind me a little bit of OS X’s Mission Control. The interface provides an overview not just of individual desktops, but also of individual windows open inside each one.

In yet another video, WinFuture shows the neo-Start menu can also be had sans live tiles.

I was hoping Microsoft would have moved to separating Modern from Desktop and give each a more distinct, customer-servicing focus, but it seems they are continuing down this path of smearing the two experiences together and hoping it works out. Have they not heard the old adage you can please some of the people all the time, all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time? That would, in my mind, dictate the need for two, or more, distinct UI experiences and giving the users freedom to chose between them for the hardware/work/task environment they find themselves in.

Initially I thought this was stupid, but then I realized why – it kept you from having to go through your virtual desktops to find that one application. But it does raise the question – with so many virtual desktops, and so many applications running, that taskbar is going to be jammed up. I wonder how they’ll handle that.

The Windows 9 Technical Preview is expected to arrive on September 30. If the rumors are right, we’ll all get to play with these features very soon.